The A-Cassiopeia supernova was imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope

A few hours ago we wrote about a picture of Uranus that I took James Webb Space Telescope. As we wrote, this instrument can be used to monitor objects relatively close to Earth, but not only. with its potential JWST extension It can reach much further with greater detail than many other telescopes (despite being “Limited” infrared only). In these hours a new picture was released Cassiopeia A supernova Which is located thousands of light years from our planet.

Thanks to the space telescope, it is now possible to observe details like never before. This, in addition to having a common value (also due to the beauty of the image) is also important from a scientific point of view, allowing scientists to better understand these phenomena that occur in our world. Here’s what you need to know.

The James Webb Space Telescope and the Cassiopeia A supernova

As written above, the Cassiopeia A supernova It is located very far from Earth, about 11,090 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. What can be seen in the image is what remains from a supernova explosion that was visible some 340 years ago. This in particular is Supernova It is known to explode in our galaxy allowing scientists to gain details about what happens after a star dies.

Click on the image to enlarge

The tool was used to make this image Merry (mid ir) del James Webb Space Telescope With a long list of filters such as F560W, F770W, F1000W, F1130W, F1280W, F1800W, F2100W and F2550W which are color customized to make them comprehensible even to our eyes. In particular, we find respectively blue, light blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange and red.

On the left is a view of JWST, on the right is a view of HST

In the upper left you can see a red-orange area and it corresponds to where there is hot dust affecting gas and other dust nearby. On the other hand, in bright pink, there are certain formations that look like the remnants of the star itself after the explosion. There we find elements such as oxygen, argon, and neon, as well as dust. To understand the size of the observed object, you need to think that the image occupies a space of 24 light years.

Thanks to the data collected before James Webb Space Telescope to Cassiopeia A supernova Scientists hope to understand the extent to which supernovae influence the generation of dust within the universe (even the early universe), considering that this very dust is the basis for the creation of planetary systems and beyond.